Ramires began his career playing for Royal Sport Club, at Barra do Piraí, 114 km north-west of Rio de Janeiro. In 2005, he signed for Joinville, before joining Cruzeiro, with whom he spent just over two seasons, appearing in 61 league matches and scoring 10 times. In 2009, Ramires moved to Portugal and signed for Benfica. He spent one season with Benfica in which he helped them to the Primeira Liga title and Taça da Liga. He then joined English club Chelsea in the summer of 2010 and won five different domestic and European competitions with them. In January 2016, Ramires signed for Jiangsu Suning for £25 million.

In January 2008, Ramires agreed to a five-year deal with Cruzeiro in a permanent move from Joinville for a $300,000 transfer fee following a loan period, giving Cruzeiro 70% of the player's economic rights. Joinville kept 30% in the event of any transfers in the future.[5] He was referred to by the fans and media during his time there as the "Queniano Azul", or "Blue Kenyan", due to Cruzeiro's blue kit and his endurance, which was considered reminiscent of Kenyan runners, who are famous for winning many Brazilian running marathons.[6]

On 21 May 2009, Ramires joined Portuguese club Benfica for a €7.5 million transfer fee on a five-year contract with a minimum fee release of €30 million.[7][8] He starred as an important player for Benfica throughout the season, as the Portuguese club won their 32nd league title after a five-year wait. In his first and only season with Benfica, Ramires also won the Taça da Liga, defeating Porto 3–0. In June 2010, Benfica sold 50% of Ramires' economic rights to English player agency Jazzy Limited, directed by Kia Joorabchian, for €6 million.[9]

On 29 December 2010, Ramires started in Chelsea's 1–0 win over Bolton Wanderers, where his performance was praised and was known to have his best game with Chelsea to date, where he made several runs forward and strong tackles winning the ball several times in the midfield. On Chelsea's return fixture at Bolton, Ramires scored his first goal as a Chelsea player in a 0–4 victory at Reebok Stadium. On 15 January 2011, he played the full 90 minutes against Blackburn Rovers in a 2–0 win at Stamford Bridge. On 1 March, he started and played the full 90 minutes in the 2–1 league win over Manchester United at Stamford Bridge.

On 20 March, Ramires scored his second Premier League goal in a 2–0 win over Manchester City at Stamford Bridge. He scored alongside fellow Brazilian David Luiz and made a superb individual effort, dribbling past three City defenders and scoring past Joe Hart in the top-left corner, which earned him "Goal of the Season" honours for Chelsea. These performances made Ramires a fan favourite amongst Chelsea fans, who nicknamed him "Rambo" due to his tendency to destroy the opposition one by one. He also has the nickname "Ray Mears" for the way he goes venturing into the oppositions half and the similarity it has with his name. On 12 April, he received a second yellow card for a challenge on Nani against Manchester United in the Champions League quarter-final at Old Trafford. On 8 May, Ramires came on as a second-half substitute for John Obi Mikel against Manchester United again at Old Trafford in a 2–1 defeat, which effectively gave their rivals the title. At the end of the campaign, he made 41 appearances and scored 2 goals for Chelsea in all competitions.

Ramires scored his fifth goal of the season in a decisive Champions League encounter against Spanish side Valencia, a 3–0 victory.[21] He scored his sixth goal of the season against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a 2–1 away win, lifting the ball from a tight position into the top left corner of the goalpost, leaving Wolves' goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey beaten.[22] On 8 January 2012, Ramires scored his seventh and eighth goals of the 2011–12 season against Portsmouth in the FA Cup, surpassing his personal record of goals in a season. On 28 January, Ramires was stretchered off in the fourth round tie of the FA Cup against Queens Park Rangers. Two hours later, Chelsea coach André Villas-Boas revealed the Brazilian would be out for three-to-four weeks.

On 5 March 2012, Ramires signed a new five-year contract which would have kept him at Chelsea until 2017.[23] Ramires also scored against Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup semi-final, helping his team defeat their rivals 5–1 on the day and progressing to the final.

On 18 April, Ramires took a pass from Frank Lampard and setup Didier Drogba's extra time goal in Chelsea's shocking 1–0 victory over Barcelona in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals at Stamford Bridge.[24] Ramires, already booked during the first leg, received a yellow card in the second leg at Camp Nou, which would rule him out of the final. In a performance compared to Roy Keane (who scored to inspire his team to a comeback victory in the 1999 Champions League semi-finals despite already being suspended for the final with accumulated bookings), Ramires scored a fantastic lobbed shot over Víctor Valdés to help send Chelsea through to the final as his goal leveled the aggregate score at 2–2 while putting Chelsea ahead on away goals. Assisted by Frank Lampard, this goal later was later chosen as Chelsea's Goal of the Season.[25][26] Chelsea teammate Fernando Torres added another goal in stoppage time to give Chelsea a 3–2 victory on aggregate and spot in the final with Bayern Munich in the final on 19 May. Unfortunately, he was not able to play in the final as he had accumulated yellow cards in the competition. Nevertheless, Chelsea emerged victorious against the Bavarians, winning 4–3 on penalties after a 1–1 draw.[27][28]

On 5 May, Ramires took a pass from Juan Mata and scored at Pepe Reina's near post against Liverpool in the FA Cup Final, helping Chelsea to a 2–1 victory with the help of a second strike from Didier Drogba.[29] Ramires later scored his fifth Premier League goal against Liverpool at Anfield; Chelsea, however, went on to lose the game 1–4.

Ramires played all of the 2012 FA Community Shield and assisted Fernando Torres for the opener and filled in for Branislav Ivanović at right back after the Serbian was sent off for a foul on Aleksandar Kolarov, with the team eventually losing 2–3 to Manchester City. He scored his first goal of the 2012–13 season against Nordsjælland in the UEFA Champions League in a 0–4 away win.[32] On 28 October 2012, he scored in a 3–2 Premier League defeat against Manchester United at Stamford Bridge. He scored again against Manchester United in Chelsea's next match on 31 October, as Chelsea overcame United 5–4 to progress to the quarter-finals of the League Cup. On 23 December, Ramires came in as a substitute for Frank Lampard and scored two goals in the last 15 minutes against Aston Villa, finishing off an emphatic 8–0 victory.[33]

On 10 March 2013, Ramires scored yet another goal against Manchester United, the equaliser in a 2–2 draw at Old Trafford in the FA Cup Sixth Round.[34] In Chelsea's second-to-last Premier League game of the season, away to Aston Villa, Ramires picked up two yellow cards in the first half and was sent off. However, Chelsea went on to win 1–2 thanks to two goals from Lampard, who set the goal-scoring record at the club with his second strike,[35] and secured Champions League football for the 2013–14 campaign.[36] Ramires' final appearance of the season came in the UEFA Europa League final against former club Benfica, as Chelsea won 2–1 through an injury-time Ivanović header, thus becoming the first team to hold the Champions League and Europa League trophies simultaneously.[37]

Ramires was named in the starting 11 for Chelsea's match against Crystal Palace on 3 May 2015, but was taken ill before kick-off with kidney illness. He missed the match, which Chelsea won 1–0 to win the league title.[42] The league victory meant that, along with his team mates Gary Cahill, John Terry, Branislav Ivanović and John Obi Mikel, Ramires had won every major domestic and European trophy during his time at Chelsea.[43]

On 29 October 2015, Ramires signed a four-year contract extension with Chelsea.[44] However, after Guus Hiddink replaced José Mourinho as head coach of the club, Ramires found himself reserved to the substitutes' bench, even though he was in the starting line-up 15 of 23 times.[45][46]

On 29 January 2016, Ramires joined Chinese club Jiangsu Suning on a four-year contract with the transfer fee being a reported £25 million.[47] The fee was a Chinese record, but was broken twice in the following ten days with the acquisitions of fellow South Americans Jackson Martínez and Alex Teixeira, the latter teaming up with Ramires.[48] Ramires was sent off in the 94th minute of his debut in the 3–2 win against Jeonbuk Motors in the AFC Champions League for a push on a Jeonbuk player.[49] On 5 March 2016, Ramires scored three minutes into his Chinese Super League debut in a 3–0 win against Shandong Luneng before assisting compatriot Alex Teixeira for the second goal.[50]

Ramires scored his first International goal on 7 June 2010 against Tanzania leading up to the World Cup finals in South Africa. He scored again later on in the game setting the score to 5–1. In the Round of 16 at the World Cup, he made a run past three Chilean defenders to set up Robinho for the third goal in a 3–0 victory. Dunga, the then-Brazilian head coach, blamed their quarter-final loss to the Netherlands on the absence of Ramires, who was serving suspension. Ramires was named in a 23-man squad for the 2011 Copa América tournament held in Argentina.

On 2 June, Ramires was named in Brazil's squad for the 2014 World Cup, held in Brazil. He featured in all seven matches – two starts – as they finished in fourth place.

Ramires is a central or right-sided midfielder who is known in particular for his pace, acceleration, agility, tenacity, hard work ethic, and stamina. He is primarily played in a defensive role in the centre, but has also been employed on the right flank, due to his high work rate, which is particularly useful when his team plays on the counter-attack; indeed, his ability to make late attacking runs into the penalty area from deeper areas has also occasionally seen him be deployed in more advanced midfield roles. In spite of his slender build, Ramires is a strong tackler, and has been called a "box-to-box midfielder", due to his overall speed, energy, consistency, ability to read the game and high work rate, which enables him to support his teams at both ends of the pitch by breaking down opposition plays and subsequently starting an attack after winning back possession. Although not as technically skilful as his compatriots such as Neymar and Willian, he nevertheless possesses good technique, which allows him to produce moments of attacking brilliance, as exemplified by his Goal of the Year awards while at Chelsea.[53][54][55][56]